BizBuzz

business in brief
Politics, marketing, trade & trends

China vs. Mexico: The changing face of exports
The character of Mexican exports is changing or rather, China is forcing it to change, according to California’s international trade expert Carlos Valderrama.
While not asserting that maquiladoras are finished, he did say in an interview with La Opinion that the idea of basing industries on cheap labor is no longer enough. China will always win at that game, particularly considering recent reports of widespread child labor under virtual slave-like conditions in the Asian country.
One way Mexico can beat the Asians, Valderrama says, is with the manufacture of bulky items like cars, trucks and motors that, for purely geographical reasons, Mexico can transport to its northern neighbor and main market with an ease, speed and economy that China and India could never hope to match.
China obviously thinks Valderrama has a point there because since he made that remark, Chinese carmaker ZX Auto and its U.S. distributor Chamco Automotive have announced plans to invest $400 million in an SUV and pickup assembly plant in Tijuana, a move welcomed by Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy for its importance to local development.
That makes even more important the conviction expressed by Valderrama, known in California as a leading advocate of free trade and globalization, that a country like Mexico is to put its technological capability on steroids.
He sees indications that Mexico is getting the message, and along that line will soon go in for aircraft manufacturing in a big way. Valderrama also sees high-tech industries springing up in states like Nuevo León, Querétaro, México and Guanajuato, where the big universities are.
Smarter, more highly skilled workers and entrepreneurs is the 21st century secret of survival, Valderrama says, because with China in the game “it makes no economic sense to manufacture shoes, clothes or furniture here as we did before.”

SNIPPET IMMIGRATION REFORM
It is unacceptable that legislators do not legislate but instead allow themselves the obscene luxury of getting bogged down in politicking while millions of people continue working and contributing, in the shadows and under threat, to the prosperity of U.S. communities up and down this country.
—Jorge Ramos, columnist,
El Mundo Latino, Washington D.C.

Raising the bar on traditional tequila
For connoisseurs, El Tesoro de Don Felipe has long been the super tequila. It is said to be as the only tequila still completely handmade the old fashioned way, its basic blue agave slowly steamed in brick ovens and crushed with a stone wheel, fermented in wooden tanks at the La Alteña distillery to exactly 80 proof with no water added.
In Spanish, el tesoro means “the treasure.”
Carlos Camarena’s grandfather, Don Felipe, founded La Alteña in the mountains of Jalisco, Mexico in 1937. Camarena, who follows the family tradition as master distiller, has just released a commemorative tequila, El Tesoro Aniversario, aged seven years in honor of the firm’s 70th year in business.
The distribution of El Tesoro Aniversario in the U.S. and elsewhere is part of a push to expand the company’s international markets. Every bottle is hand-painted and on the bottom bears the name of the worker who made it by hand.
Among the fans of this Mexican national treasure is Carlos Camarena himself, further proof that he’s not just a boss but a hands-on artisan.
—Conrad Dahlson

SMALL BUSINESS:TRAINING tomorrow’s tycoons
To the burgeoning Latino population of greater Atlanta, NegocioNOW means starting your own business—not someday, but right away.
Last year Goodwill Industries took note that many new immigrants were making ends meet by buying second-hand clothes, furniture and other household items—and that a disproportionate number of them longed to start their own businesses. The main problem they faced was in getting started.
So the North Georgia branch of Goodwill decided to help out. The result was NegocioNOW, an eight-week course for future Hispanic business owners. With teaching materials in Spanish, the program also turns out to be extremely useful for those with small businesses already up and running.
Project manager Glorivee Cruz-Velazquez says in Quepasa.com that in the Atlanta metro area “some 58 Hispanics have already graduated from the course, and 26 of them have started new businesses providing employment for an additional 21 people.”
The program teaches participants how to organize a business, find a niche, advertise and make a business plan. NegocioNOW guides them on such marketing basics as getting their names known and their offers understood via the Internet or by flyers. And, yes, you have to have business cards.
By teaching how to keep track of expenses, income, inventory, sales and taxes, NegocioNOW–a course approved by the Small Business Administration–makes the whole process of starting a business less haphazard, less scary and a much more predictable source of income.

Business advice:
SUBSTANCE OVER STYLE
Your public launch of a product or service should be designed to raise the profile of your company. Don’t spend money on a flashy launch party when you have no accomplishments to show off. Spend your marketing budget on making the press and blogging community aware of your product and the companies that are using it, as well as the problems your product is solving and the specific benefits that have resulted from its use.
—Christine Comaford-Lynch,
columnist, BusinessWeek

trendwatch:
Export Benchmark
By now, most of us know that sub-prime mortgages are hurting many homeowners. But economists have warned that they could have repercussions for the broader economy too. Those warnings came to life (recently) when two hedge funds run by the Wall Street brokerage Bear Stearns & Co., both heavily invested in sub-prime mortgages, lost much of their value.
—Los Angeles Times editorial

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES: CLEAN AIR,CLEAR PROFITS
Successful businesses are built on satisfying a need. As the new millennium progresses, a need that can no longer be ignored is to clean up the mess we are making of our planet.
Ruben Garcia has made cleaning up other people’s industrial accidents into a multimillion-dollar industry. His company, Advanced Cleanup Technologies, Inc. in Rancho Dominguez, California, was inspired, he says, by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Since his company’s founding he has not only cleaned up oil spills but a lagoon at Disneyland and Hurricane Katrina debris in New Orleans.
Now, with an $8-million investment, he’s tackling the air pollution caused by locomotives idling at train stations and ships docked in ports in a way that could set industry standards around the world, a report by BusinessWeek suggests.
While in port, ocean-going ships continue to belch nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide into the air from the auxiliary diesel motors kept running non-stop to operate lights and cranes. The problem is so severe that kids around the Long Beach and Los Angeles port areas in California are showing more signs of asthma. Port authorities are telling shipping operators to cut in-port emissions by 50 percent over the next five years.
In response, Garcia, who emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. as a boy, came up with a way to capture the exhaust in a rigid fabric hood and clean it with scrubbers. When given the chance to try out his device at the Union Pacific Corp. railroad yard, it cut emissions by 97 percent.
Each one of these devices costs $8 million—his initial investment in the project—but since they are capable of cleaning the emissions of several ships at once, their market would likely be ports and giant shipping corporations rather than small shipowners.
Even at that price, it looks like an economical, viable answer to a filthy situation.

X-ECUTIVE CALENDAR: what not to miss
September 5-7: La Cumbre: The Americas’ Travel Industry Summit, The Westin Diplomat, Hollywood, Florida. Hundreds of exhibitors and buyers in the tourism industry from across the Americas. www.lacumbre.com

September 11-12: Houston Minority Business Council, George R. Brown Convention Center,1001 Avenida de las Americas, Houston. www.hmbc.org

September 13-14: National Hispanic Women’s Conference, Phoenix Convention Center West, Phoenix, Arizona. Hosted by the Hispanic Women’s Corporation, participants as this event focus on personal and professional empowerment. www.hispanicwomen.org

September 19-22: USHCC’s 28th Annual National Convention, Expo & International Pavilion, San Juan, Puerto Rico. The largest gathering of Hispanic business concerns. www.ushcc.com/2007

October 28-31: National Minority Supplier Development Council, 2007 Conference and Business Opportunity Fair, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach. www.nmsdcus.org

October 31-November 2: Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, Semi-annual Conference, Crowne Plaza Hotel, New York. www.ahaa.org

QUIPS & QUOTES:
What they are saying
“The Hispanic community needs financial education. Often we arrive in this country without knowing how the system works.”
-Blanca Duarte, Hispanic community coordinator
for Bank of America, as quoted in La Raza

“Never say ‘It’s our policy.’ An angry customer does not want to hear about company policy.”
-“Dealing with Angry Customers,”
by Carmine Gallo in BusinessWeek

“Never think you can do it alone! One of the best ways to insulate yourself against business failure is to find and work with a mentor.”
-SBA.com Small Business Planner,
U.S. Small Business Administration

On the failure of Senate immigration reform: “Now without a legislative solution many families will be split up, more immigrant workers will be arrested in raids and more people seeking a better future will die on the border.”
-The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, in a statement quoted in La Raza

“Hispanic media is no longer as simple as placing a radio or television spot on an Hispanic station, but requires a deep understanding of the target market segment and not just reaching them, but making contact.”
- Carl Kravetz, chairman of the AHAA and chairman/CEO of cruz/kravetz:IDEAS

SERVICE: DIRTY CLOTHES, delightful experience
Billed as “Southern California’s first luxury drycleaner boutique,” Prato Cleaners in San Diego boasts many flourishes. The floors are cherrywood, the artwork is Italian, the music creates a five-star ambiance, and the service is personal. Even if your dirty clothes don’t happen to have Valentino, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada or some other designer label, you are made to feel as if they do.
Prato’s Latino owner, Federico Leff, wants to convey the idea that you deserve the best. Here, there are no chemical smells, no clattering garment racks to remind you of the mundane in life. Instead, you can imagine that somewhere out of sight, your majordomo or lady-in-waiting not only gets your dry cleaning ready the same day you drop it off, but handles such tasks as fluff-and-fold laundry service, shoe and purse repair, tailoring and alterations.
Prato is a subsidiary of the Leff family business, San Diego Valet Service, which handles laundry and dry cleaning for about 20 hotels around the city. Word from the six-month-old company is that “everyone values two things: someone who makes their lives easier, and someone who makes their lives enjoyable. That’s exactly what we do in an otherwise dull errand.”
That could explain why San Diego Magazine recently hailed Prato Cleaners as Best Dry Cleaners in its annual “Best of the City” issue.